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Hope Library Guides

English 113 - Research Toolkit

Source Sleuthing and Getting Started

Definitions

Primary sources are a direct source of information.  

Examples:

  • maps
  • handwritten letters or other historical ephemera
  • scientific research reports
  • paintings or literary fiction
  • datasets
  • photographs
  • interview recordings

Secondary sources interpret and analyze the information found in primary sources. 

Examples:

  • most books
  • scholarly articles that discuss an original work.
  • any analysis of a work. 
Primary     Secondary
Artwork      Article critiquing the piece of art
Diary      Book about the time period in which the diary was written
Interview      Biography of the interviewee
Letters      Dissertation about the author of the letters
Poem      Treatise on a particular genre of poetry
Research Dataset        Article written by different researchers analyzing that data

How did this article get its information?

"Smoking gun proof:" fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954, documents show"

- AND -

"New Evidence Reveals Fossil Fuel Industry Sponsored Climate Science in 1954"

 

Visit the articles above. 

  1. Are the articles primary or secondary sources?
  2. Are the articles scholarly sources?
  3. If they're not primary sources, what is the primary source? Can you access the primary source?
  4. The headlines are different. Why might that be?